2019 Diddler Cup Racing Series
The 2019 Diddler Cup Racing Series is the third season of the Diddler Cup Racing Series, a stock car racing championship series on IRM. The season begins on April 28, 2019 at Diddler Motor Speedway in South Tucson, Arizona, and concludes on September 29, 2019 at TBD. The defending champion is Joe-Jon Winchester, who returns in the #47 ATF/Bureau Chevrolet, sponsored by Just Guns. Commentary Team *Chip Chapman (Bryan) - Veteran play by play racing announcer *"Lightning" Lloyd Shivers (RJ) - Former South Tucson short track champion *Beaumont Jenkins (Caveman) - President of the Wooba Bally Fan Club Format changes Last year's season was the first to introduce the "regular season and playoffs" format, and this season has expanded upon that format. The season is made up of 25 races, three more than last year. The regular season portion will comprise of the first 15 races instead of 14. There will still be 16 drivers who qualify for the "playoffs", which has expanded to 10 races from last year's 8. Qualification for the playoffs is awarded to the highest points total at the end of the 15 regular season races. Additionally, every driver who wins one of these 15 races will qualify. If any spots are still open (due to multiple winners or the points leader also winning a race), the next highest point totals will qualify as well. Each round of the playoffs will be made up of three races, with the exception of the final Championship race. At the end of each round, the bottom four drivers are eliminated. Playoff competitors who win a race automatically qualify for the next round. The highest finisher of the four remaining drivers on the final Championship race of the season will be crowned the series champion. 'Battle for Fifth' As was the case last year, as playoff drivers are eliminated, their points are reset to the start of the playoffs (4000 points + playoff points) and the race points won are added back. This allows the 12 eliminated drivers to battle one another for fifth place throughout the 10 playoff races. Teams and Drivers For sponsorship info: 2019 Diddler Cup Team Chart 'Changes' Teams *For the first time, racing teams were allowed to take on secondary sponsors in addition to their primary sponsor. Many teams will then run multiple different *Citing budget issues, ATF Bureau Racing announced the shutdown of the #27 team after one year of operation. The team will operate in 2019 with two active cars. Additionally, the #21 car has changed to #17, alongside the change of sponsors, with LegalBetForRealMoney.gov no longer staying on. The new sponsorship package would be "DRUGS", whatever that means. *Throat Candy Tobacco Lozenges will not renew its sponsorship with ATF Bureau Racing, or any other racing team. *Jeff Chinese announced the formation of his own racing team, Iron Jeff Racing. The team purchased the #8 team to join the #38, keeping Jeff Gordon the Horse at the wheel. (Because how can you tell a horse they're not driving anymore? He won't understand!) The team adds the new #88 team as well. The primary sponsor for this team will be the retail chain JEFF-Y-E. *(Adjective) Foods announced the addition of the Mouthfeel brand of sauces, condiments, and spreads to their sponsorship package. Mouthfeel would sponsor the #82 car, with SO MUCH CHICKEN moving to the #81 team, and All The Ham to the #83 team as primary sponsors. The #81 and #83 teams would also feature secondary sponsors for several races. *To make room for a new full sponsorship package signed to the #22 car, spearheaded by Blennzoil, Most Glorious Motorsports has condensed their prior sponsors to the #10 car. The primary sponsor will remain Most Glorious Mr. Naga, himself, but the #10 car will also be sponsored by a variety of brands under "Most Glorious & Honorable Mr. Naga's vast combat sport empire". *Due to the success of the #90 team in 2018, Matryoshka Inc. has signed a sponsorship deal with the Russian television network Sportsnaz, along with alternate paint schemes promoting the various programming on the network. *Fulfilling a promise made to its youth football program, South Tucson Youth Motorsports will feature the sponsor of its annual champions on one of the cars for 6 races. This year, the #28 car will feature an alternate paint scheme for 2018-19 champions The Binging Texan BBQ Buffet. Additionally, to retroactively honor this deal, the three past league champions will each have alternate paint schemes for 3 races, featured on either the #60 or #13 car. *Wooba Bally is so insistent that you SIGN THE PETITION that he will run 2 races with a "SIGN THE PETITION" paint scheme. Drivers *Due to his tragic death in the final race of the 2018 season, 542 Norman was replaced in the #13 car by another South Tucson Youth Motorsports academy student, XXX Macklin, for the 2019 season. *Bowie Jessup signed a contract with Dixie Wimmer Inc. to drive the #9 GumBooze car. He will replace Stumpy Lane, who was released from his contract. *The mysterious Steve Thompson was brought in by ATF Bureau Racing to drive the #17 car. He replaces Cobb Salad, who drove for this team last year when they were the #21 car. *Agent Toby Keith will not return to drive in the 2019 season after being called into the field on a secret mission. *Recently awoken from his medically induced coma, Thicker Richard Ketchup has been signed by (Adjective) Foods, and will drive the #82 car, replacing Harry Gunt. *DIRK Tanaka has left SlapDong Corporate Racing's #99 team to join Iron Jeff Racing and drive their new #88 team. *SlapDong Corporate Racing signed rookie Hans Weisspulver to drive the #99 car for the 2019 season. *Due to the mysterious disappearance of Vitaly Kryptov, Matryoshka Inc. has signed BOBROVSKY to drive the #1 car. *To fill the vacancy left by Bowie Jessup, Most Glorious Mr. Naga has signed Blario Blandretti to drive the #22 car. Manufacturers *With the formation of Iron Jeff Racing, it was announced that Toyota would be their new manufacturer. Both the #8 and #38 teams would race under Toyota instead of Chevrolet. Schedule Dates subject to change. Season Summary 'Race Reports' Race 1: Taxidermy WOW! Get Stuffed 300 Paul Walker started on the pole, leading for nearly half the race, before being passed by Jeff Gordon The Horse. An early incident on the first two laps saw Paul Alcohol spin out after a collision involving Richard Blood and Jim Blossoms. Meanwhile, 2017 champion Jean-Paul Henry ended his race early due to camshaft issues. With 10 laps to go, after fighting lap traffic, the lead was contested by three drivers: Jeff Gordon The Horse, Bucky Dewshine, and rookie Hans Weisspulver. Weisspulver made the pass on The Horse, but gave up the lead at the white flag on the straightaway. However, Weisspulver had Dewshine behind him to draft, and was strong enough into the turns to fend off The Horse and win his first ever Diddler Cup start. Results and Standings 'Race Results' 'Driver Standings' A * indicates the driver led at least one lap during the race, for an additional 5 bonus points. A second * indicates the driver led the most laps during the race, for 5 bonus points in addition to the previous 5 points. 'Manufacturers' Standings' 'Playoff Grid' TBD Notes ----